Holland's Boom takes Under 23 title after two-man fight

Russia's Ignatiev finished a close second

Lars Boom of the Netherlands's took the gold medal in the Under 23 World Championships
Time Trial after a hard-fought two-man duel with Russia's Mikhail Ignatiev.
The 21 year-old, current Under 23 Cyclo-Cross Champion, came back from an eight-second
deficit at the first time check to better his Russian rival by eight seconds,
with a time of 48'57" (46.86 km/h). France's Jerome Coppel won bronze with a
time of 49'43".

"I worked all year towards this race," Boom said at the finish of the 38.1-kilometre
test. "Especially in light of my bad results last year." He had finished 26th
in Salzburg. "I went out on the first lap with a high cadence, and I was able
to keep it up. I never dreamed I would win the world title."

The Russian/Dutch battle started at 11:02 when Boom left the start house in
western Stuttgart. He posted the quickest times through all the checks (14'18"
at km 11.7, 23'28" at 19.3 and 39'29" at 31.1), but he was forced to sit down
and wait as Ignatiev and others tried to better his time. The rider to come
closest was 22 year-old Ignatiev, who has ridden this year with Tinkoff Credit
Systems.

Ignatiev left the start house just over one minute after Boom rolled through
the finish line. The first time check must have scared the new World Champion
as he was watching on television; Ignatiev was eight seconds up. But the Russian
could not hold, and he faded by six and ten seconds at the following two checks
(km 19.3 and 31.1). He had made up two more seconds by the finish, but that
was not enough to stop the current Under 23 Cyclo-Cross Champion from adding another title.

Boom took victory last January in Belgium ahead of Niels Albert in his favoured
discipline of cyclo-cross. "I want to continue to focus myself on the Cyclo-cross
Worlds to come... Racing more cyclo-cross is good, and to do a little less on
the road, but bigger races maybe. I also want to be world champ in the elite
level of the cyclo-cross, and that is my aim in the next few years."

He noted how the two disciplines complement one another. "Cyclo-cross is always
in the high revs, one hour at full speed. This is similar to time trialing,
with high speeds; uphill and downhills." In the future, he believes the experience
will allow for him to race on the road full time. "I think it also easier to
go from a cyclo-cross rider to a road rider, than the other way around."

In his last year as an Under 23 rider, he will completely focus on being at
the top of his category rather than vying for a spot on the Dutch 2008 Olympic
team. "I will not compete in Beijing. It will be my last year as an Under 23;
maybe in four years, in London."

2005 Under 23 Champ, Ignatiev, was in good spirits despite missing out on a
second world title. "There was only a small gap between us the entire time,"
he noted. "I had a problem with my leg; a part of my muscle. Nonetheless, second
place is a good result for me."

"I did not expect to be nine seconds faster than him," Boom added. "He is a
very good time trial rider. He was already world champion in this category."

Ignatiev will compete in the 2008 Olympics. "I will focus on the track," he
continued. "The problem is I have little chance on the road. I have a big opportunity
on the track. So, I will focus my energies on the track."

Coppel finished just as he did in 2006, third behind Ignatiev. The 21 year-old
was impressed with is run, but noted the great divide from third to first and
second. "It is true that I came here to win," said Coppel. "The gap was very
impressive; both of them were too strong for me. I knew them from last year,
but both of them have been professional in this year, and they had the chance
to race at a higher level."

He has signed to race at the top level in 2008. "I will race for Française
Des Jeux next year. I have signed for two years, during the Tour de l'Avenir.
In three to four years I hope to be a good stage racer, in races of one to two
weeks long."

How it unfolded

At 9:00 in the morning local time the 2007 World Championships were kicked
off with the start of Pavel Zitta, from the Czech Republic. Despite the bleak
weather forecast the roads stayed dry and conditions were good.

The first starting group was comprised of 19 riders and the first two riders
to raise eyebrows were Peter Velits (Slovakia) and Roman Kireyev (Kazakhstan),
who put in strong rides that would eventually get them to 14th and 15th, with
Kireyev being one second faster than Velits.

In the second start group the Estonian Tanel Kangert was the strongest and
led through the intermediate times, as well as at the finish. His time of 50'11"
propelled him into the hot seat, where the current leaders in the time trials
are now placed. This is a new requirement in an attempt to leave no chance at
all for the riders to do anything illegal between the end of their race and
the doping control.

Seven minutes before eleven, the cheers were a little louder, as local rider
Marcel Kittel, who won the Worlds title twice in the junior ranks, got underway.
His red and black jersey matched the red and black Giant bike perfectly.

A few minutes later, at 11:02, it was Lars Boom who took off. He went out very
fast and looked smooth as he quickly stormed to a new best intermediate time
at kilometre 11.5 with 14'19". He was 22 seconds faster than the previous
leader from Estonia.

Boom continued his storm and quickly gobbled up Michael Faerk Christensen (Denmark),
who had started one minute earlier. Christensen appeared to be riding strongly,
too, so Boom's ride seemed even faster.

In the mean time Kittel was riding along the barriers in Feuerbach, where a
few spectators had come out to encourage the riders. Kittel also started passing
people. Over 30 minutes into the race he passed Marco Coledan (Italy).

Boom continued flying down the road and picked up Azizbek Abdvrahimov (Uzbekistan),
who had started a full four minutes ahead of him.

At 11:50 it was Norwegian Edvald Boasson Hagen, the new young star who will
be riding for T-Mobile next year, who took the start. He looked impressive on
his machine and managed to get the second fastest time at the first check. But
shortly behind him was brewing a storm.

Mikhail Ignatiev, the Russian who rides for the Tinkoff Credit Systems and
recently won the time trial in the Regio Tour, came out quickly and was eight
seconds ahead of Boom at the first time check and 19 seconds faster than Hagen.
But it looked like he came out too fast as he was losing time at every check.
At the second time check the gap was six seconds.

The next to last rider was Jerome Coppel of France, who had intentions of winning.
And he did a good ride, staying close to the top be in third on all but the
first time check (where he was fourth).

European champion Maxim Belkov (Russia) was the last to start. But he would
quickly realize it wasn't his course. At the first check he was already 44 seconds
down.

Ignatiev started a tag race with Adriano Malori (Italy) and the two passed
each other several times. Boom was the first one to beat 40 minutes at the last
time check and continued on to get a 48'58" at the finish and climb on
top of the leader board.

Coppel finished strong up the last little rise and got third, while Belkov
faded to 30th, almost three minutes back

Ignatiev had lost ten seconds at the third check and Boom could celebrate bringing
the first gold medal of the 2007 Worlds to the Netherlands.